HARRISBURG – The PA House approved a bill that would require a study of alternatives to PA’s Keystone Exams. Currently, PA requires high school students to take Keystone Exams in literature, Algebra I, and biology to assess proficiency in these subject areas and serve as a component of PA’s high school graduation requirements. House Bill 1752 would require PA’s Education Secretary to contract for a study to assess whether the ACT, SAT or Smarter Balanced assessments align with PA’s academic standards and could meet federal requirements for accountability testing. The secretary must submit a report within one year of the bill’s effective date containing the results of the study. A 2019 Auditor General’s report found the Keystone Exams cost about $17.6 million yearly to administer and score, compared to about $13.3 million for administering and scoring the SAT for all high school juniors and seniors. Both the SAT and ACT are widely used to assess college readiness, with about half of PA students taking one of the exams before graduation. The bill now goes to the state Senate.
